TLS article about (bad) photos, hi-tech and W.Eggleston

[kubilai]

Times Literary Supplement sept 5 2008 n. 5501
p. 16 "Freelance" columns by Hugo Williams :

My scrapbooks are a lifetime's project, but they have been halted since Christmas, when I was given a digital camera and stopped getting things printed. [...]
The great thing about this now-vanishing treat was that you got lots of bad photographs along with the odd good one and these turned out to be strangely more interesting when looked at later. Now, bad photos are routinely culled in the camera, leaving only chocolate-box images, overfamiliar long before they reach the album [...] Having finally had 250 of them printed, I now have a record of the last six months spread out in front of me, but I miss the surprises. ...


Following is interesting commentaries about William Eggleston as "model for the art of unexpectedness in photography".

 

[amateriat]

The digital experience, for many if not most people, is by its very nature the opposite of the "Winogrand principle" of taking the picture and sitting on it for a good while before even looking at it (or, in his case, even developing the film, although I'd say he got a bit carried away with that). The digital principle, writ large, is snap n' chimp, something that's damned near impossible not to do when the camera you're using all but requires you to compose using the LCD.

Technology need not be the enemy of serendipity, but, ironically, you now have to work harder make room for it. Few will bother, and more's the pity for that.


- Barrett

 

[benlees]

Technology need not be the enemy of serendipity, but, ironically, you now have to work harder make room for it. Few will bother, and more's the pity for that.
Barrett

I agree. You can't blame the camera. Show some self-discipline and digital need not be the end of your scrap booking journey. Silly, really. The internet; the big scrapbook awaits!

I must say I haven't put more than a couple 4x6's in my photo album in years...

 

[JTK]

I bought a Pentax K20D with 4 prime lenses (one a discontinued 85/2) because I couldn't afford an M8 and wanted better detail resolution than it could manage (Pentax resolves nearly twice as well with less noise).

I'm very happy with my Nikon scans from 35, but the DSLR makes bracketing (which I did as a pro) more convenient and will, when I get around to it, give me better shadow and highlight detail than film could by subtle use of HDR.

If I don't print to letter size I don't care about the image. If I print to 11X17 it means I think it's a pretty good image. Same concept with film and DSLR.